Our Greek Odyssey

Says it better than I can

http://ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite3_1_13/02/2012_427392

I took Junior to school yesterday, regardless of the snow, as I figured she’d be warmer there than she would be at home! Unfortunately not many parents had had the same idea and 2 hours’ later I got a phone call to tell me they were shutting the school because only about 30 children had turned up! Oh well we got a nice walk through the snow and Junior watched a film whilst at school.
This morning I woke up before 7 as usual but after one peek out of the bedroom window I knew they’d be no school. Junior wanted to get out into the snow so we took the dogs for a romp.

I love the way the snow muffles the sound of everything, it was like we were the only people around. Of course the dogs didn’t remain very quiet as they just found it all too exciting.

Junior insisted I take this picture as she thinks the tangerines look like they’re wearing hats.

Sean didn’t get to see any of this snow because, unfortunately, he was on his way to Switzerland by car and so got to see a whole lot more in Italy! After some treacherous driving conditions he’s now safely ensconced in Geneva for the next couple of days.

I wish the heating was working

People seem very interested in Greece right now. It used to be that when you mentioned Greece to someone they immediately thought of holidays, sun and beaches, nowadays people tend to ask more about the economic situation and the prospect of the country being able to recover from the mess it’s in at the moment. Well, I don’t have a crystal ball so I really don’t know how things will unfold for this country but I can’t see things getting any better any time soon.
Sunday marked 4 years’ in Greece for us and I remembered that our main factor in moving over here was for a better quality of life for Junior, for her to have more of a childhood. She does remain blissfully unaware of ‘celebrity culture’ and doesn’t long to be ‘famous’ when she grows up (unless it’s because she’s discovered a new species of animal) but her childhood should also include a decent education. She reads voraciously, is fiercely intelligent and is bored beyond words at school. What does this country hold for her future, for the future of any of the children at her school? Where will the jobs be? Will they have the skills to go abroad and search for work elsewhere?
We must hear every week of people who are leaving the country, who can’t cope anymore and don’t see things improving. We’ve also noticed that the supermarkets we visit aren’t as well stocked as usual, imported goods seem to be fewer on the shelves. Heating oil continues to rise in price and people are choosing instead to fit wood burners. We would if we had any room for one but we’re making do with electric heaters. Fortunately the weather has been warmer the past week or so, especially fortunate since electricity went up by 12.2% on 1st January.
The new property tax didn’t effect us as we rent and the tax is the responsibility of the landlord. What does effect us though is car tax. You pay your tax for the whole year and we’ve always done this at the beginning or middle of January. Sean went to pay the other week only to be told that because he didn’t pay at the end of the December for the following year, the price was now double!! It wasn’t the bloke in the tax office’s fault, he admitted that previously it had been fine to pay during January but because they’re so desperate to raise money wherever they can they’d enacted this little piece of legislation to drag in the euros. It seems to be take, take, take at the moment and no sign of any giving.

Well it’s only the 9th day of the New Year but Greece has already had its first strikes and I’ve already found my first abandoned animal! Junior and I were out walking the dogs and we were followed the entire way by a very small, very cute puppy who obviously had no idea where he was or where he had come from. I had to tell Sean that we had been followed home (yet again) by a stray dog as Junior refused to tell him in case he shouted. Obviously another dog – no matter how cute – is not practical and so Sean phoned our friendly neighbourhood vet/pet shop and they said we could take it down to them and they’d look after it until it found a home. We went to get some pet food on Saturday and the little thing was still there but at least he’s being looked after and is not wandering the streets all alone.
I find the Greek way with animals very hard to stomach and the atrocities you hear about are enough to make your blood boil, but even the every day manner, not necessarily cruelty, is difficult to understand. A case in point is our next door neighbour. Colin, the dog that followed us home initially, has sort of adopted next door as her home and although she comes over to ours to play with the dogs and get treats, she chooses to sleep outside next doors. We told them that we had no problem with that as Colin was a bit of a free spirit anyway and would do as she liked. So far, so fine. However, we’ve been feeding a small cat for months, who we believed to be a stray. Turns out it ‘belongs’ to the neighbours. We know this because the said neighbour kept coming out and shouting for the kitten (this after we’ve been letting it in and feeding it for a good few months’) and giving our house dirty looks. He finally asked Sean not to feed the cat or let it in our house, to which Sean replied that we didn’t realise it was his cat and we’d stop looking after it. This seemed to sort things until before Christmas when he shouted across to Sean that we were practically kidnapping his cat and he was fed up with it. Well……..if you know Sean you’ll know that he seldom loses his temper, but when he does……..stand well back. He marched across to the blokes house, who on seeing Sean coming suddenly ceased to be all brave and shouty and instead hid behind his front door, and Sean practically dragged him over to our place and showed him that we leave a window open for our cats every night so that they can get in and out whilst we’re sleeping and that if ‘his’ cat was getting in then that was how she was doing it. Now, here’s the most ludicrous part, he accused us of ‘training’ his cat to jump up onto the boiler house roof and then through the window into the house!! I don’t think he’s ever had a cat before if he thinks you can train one. The annoying thing is that he won’t let the cat into his house, he expects it to sit on his doorstep come rain or shine so that he can come out and stroke it when he wants! The icing on the cake of this whole story is that just before New Year he went on holiday………for 8 days………..leaving the cat and Colin…………and not once did anyone call in to check on them or put any food whatsoever out for them. When an animal is used to getting their food from a particular place they’re not suddenly going to realise that they have to fend for themselves because that food source has gone on holiday! The lack of thought and compassion of some people just makes my mind boggle……….